Vote by June 2

To register to vote in California, you must be:

Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court (for more information, please see Voting Rights: Persons Subject to Conservatorship).

A United States citizen and a resident of California,

18 years old or older on Election Day,

Not currently serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony (for more information, please see Voting Rights Restored: Persons with a Prior Felony Conviction), and

Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court (for more information, please see Voting Rights: Persons Subject to Conservatorship).

To pre-register to vote in California, you must:

• Be 16 or 17 years old, and
• Meet all of the other requirements to vote.

You will automatically be registered to vote on your 18th birthday.

To register to vote you must complete a voter registration application on paper or online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov. When you register online, the system will search the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database for your California driver license or identification card number, date of birth, and last four digits of your social security number. If your information is found and you authorize elections officials’ use of your DMV signature, an electronic image of your DMV signature will be added to your voter registration application after you click “submit” at the end of the online application. If there is no signature on file with DMV, all of your information will be transmitted to your county elections office; you will just need to click “print,” sign the paper application, and mail it. Your county elections official will contact you when your voter registration application is approved or if more information is needed to confirm your eligibility.

You may submit your voter registration application online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov. You can also pick up a paper application at your county elections office, any Department of Motor Vehicles field office, and many post offices, public libraries, and government offices. To have an application mailed to you, call your county elections office or the Secretary of State’s toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683).

If you did not register to vote by the 15-day voter registration deadline, in most elections, you may conditionally register to vote and cast a provisional ballot by visiting your county elections office, a vote center, or a designated satellite location during the period of 14 days prior to, and including, Election Day.

Once your county elections official processes your affidavit of registration, determines your eligibility to register, and validates your information, your registration becomes permanent and your provisional ballot will be counted.  For more information, please refer to Same Day Voter Registration.

In order to change your political party preference, you must re-register to vote.  You can re-register to vote by completing a voter registration application online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov. When you register online, the system will search the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database for your California driver license or identification card number, date of birth, and last four digits of your social security number. If your information is found and you authorize elections officials’ use of your DMV signature, an electronic image of your DMV signature will be added to your voter registration application after you click “submit” at the end of the online application. If there is no signature on file with DMV, all of your information will be transmitted to your county elections office; you will just need to click “print,” sign the paper application, and mail it. Your county elections official will contact you when your voter registration application is approved or if more information is needed to confirm your eligibility.

You can also pick up a paper application at your county elections office, any Department of Motor Vehicles field office, and many post offices, public libraries, and government offices.  To have an application mailed to you, call your county elections office or the Secretary of State’s toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683). 

All Californians who are eligible to vote may fill out an online voter registration application at RegisterToVote.ca.gov. California military and overseas voters may also use RegisterToVote.ca.gov to fill out an application to register for, and to vote in, any California election; for more information on military and overseas voter registration, visit Military & Overseas Voters. If you do not have a California driver license or identification card number, but you enter your other information, the website will create a pre-filled voter registration application for you to print, sign, and mail. All of your information will be sent directly to your county elections office so that when your signed application arrives in the mail, the county elections staff will simply add your signature to your voter registration record.

To register to vote, you must provide:

• A California Driver’s License or state ID number, or
• The last four digits of your Social Security Number (SSN) (if you do not have a CA ID).

If you don’t have either, you can still register. You’ll be assigned a unique identifier to validate your registration.

All numbers are securely verified:

• Unique identifiers are verified by election officials.
• CA ID numbers are matched with DMV records.
• SSNs are matched with Social Security Administration records.

In most cases, NO. California does not generally require voters to show identification at the polls. You may need to show ID only if ALL of the following apply:

• You’re voting for the first time in a federal election.
• You registered by mail or online, and
• You did not provide your CA ID or SSN when registering

You can show photo or non-photo ID, including:

• California Driver’s License or State ID card.
• U.S. Passport
• Student or Military ID
• Utility Bill
• Bank Statement
• Paycheck or Government Check
• Official mail from a government agency (e.g., sample ballot booklet).

Poll workers may only request ID if the voter list clearly indicates it’s required (e.g., a first-time voter who registered by mail without an ID.

For more information on the type of identification to use when you vote for the first time, review the complete list of acceptable forms of identification (PDF), call the Secretary of State’s toll-free voter hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683), or contact your county elections official.

If you are a first-time voter in a federal election and you did not provide this information when you registered, and you plan to:

• Vote in person: prior to receiving your ballot at your polling location, you may be asked to provide an acceptable form of identification.
• Vote by mail: prior to voting your ballot, send a photocopy of your personal identification to your county elections official. If you do not do this prior to voting, you will be contacted by your county elections official upon receipt of your voted ballot to request the required proof of identity. You must provide an acceptable form of identification to your county elections official before they can open your vote-by-mail ballot return envelope. If your identity cannot be verified, your vote-by-mail ballot return envelope will not be opened and your ballot will not be counted.

Yes. California military and overseas voters may also use RegisterToVote.ca.gov to fill out a voter registration application to register for, and to vote in, any California election. When filling out an application to register as military or overseas voter, you can choose to have your ballot mailed, faxed, or emailed to you. For more information on military and overseas voter registration, visit Military & Overseas Voters.

No. The online voter registration application is an easy avenue for submitting your information, but the information you provide in your online application still must be verified by your county elections official. If you have a California driver license or identification card and submit an online voter registration application, the Department of Motor Vehicles is simply sharing a copy of your signature on file so that it can be transferred to your voter registration record. No matter how you turn in your registration application – online or paper – when it comes to determining a person’s eligibility to vote, preventing duplicate registrations, and adding a person to California’s official voter rolls, all the same safeguards are in place. Your county elections official will contact you when your voter registration application is approved or if more information is needed to confirm your eligibility.

Yes. The California Secretary of State’s online application is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese.  Paper applications are also available in those same languages.  To have an application mailed to you, call your county elections office or the Secretary of State’s toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683).

No. For security reasons, California law prohibits casting a ballot over the Internet. This also means that county elections officials cannot accept marked ballots sent via email.  If you are a military and overseas voter, as defined by the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, you may return your voted ballot to your county elections office only by mail or fax (in certain limited circumstances).

To find out if you are currently registered to vote, please refer to My Voter Status.

In general, you do not need to re-register because you are registered to vote for as long as you remain at the same address. However, there are cases in which voter registration can be cancelled if a voter has not voted in several consecutive general elections.

Your voter registration record should always reflect your current residence. If your move is permanent, you can update your California residence address by re-registering online or by submitting a paper voter registration application.

You can also send a signed letter to your current county elections official, informing them of your move and providing them with your date of birth and current address, even if it is in a different county.  However, if you have already updated your residence address at the Department of Motor Vehicles or the U.S. Postal Service, your registration will be automatically updated with your new address.

If your move is temporary, you can continue to use your prior permanent residence where you were registered to vote as your address for the purpose of voting.

If you have legally changed your name, you must re-register to vote so that your voter record reflects your current name. The Secretary of State recommends that before you update your voter record with your current name, you first update your California driver license or identification card with DMV.

If you are re-registering online and you have not updated your DMV record with your new name, select “decline” on the application when asked to use your DMV signature to register to vote. If you do not decline use of your DMV signature, your application will be rejected by your county elections official because your DMV signature for your prior name will not match your voter signature with your new name. After you decline to use your DMV signature, continue filling in your information.  Print, sign, and mail the paper application to your county elections office.

Call the Secretary of State’s toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683) or contact your county elections office, which is where your voter registration record is maintained. For assistance in other languages, please refer to Contact Information.